Amazon promises 1M deals for this year's Prime Day, beginning Monday

Amazon also encourages sellers to boost advertising on Prime Day, and one seller told CNBC that the marketplace is trying to figure out "how to double dip into our pockets". That's 20% more time for deals than previous year - so Prime Day 2018 is certainly not one to miss. Amazon also claims to be bringing over 200 new products from various brands on Prime Day. If you don't have the Prime membership, then please get on the bandwagon to make use of all the deals that will be live for 36 hours only.

Meanwhile, Amazon has leaked its first wave of Prime Day deals, including up to 40% off Kitchen and Home appliances from Crock-Pot, Tefal and Philips, and generous £35 off the Kindle Paperwhite. Online retailer eBay, which has battled Amazon for years, hopes to get shoppers to reconsider joining Amazon's club by offering a week of exclusive deals beginning July 16 from hundreds of brands including Apple, Samsung and Adidas.

The main factor that initially made Prime popular is its convenient free two-day shipping.

While CamelCamelCamel doesn't track Prime Day sales, per se, it does follow the price history of all products on Amazon, so you can see if that "bargain" really is one. However, these discounts are limited for Prime members only. So, without further ado, what's to love most from this year's Prime Day edition in our neck of the woods where phones, tablets, and various accessories run wild?

Prime Day 2017 grew by more than 60 percent over the prior year, the company said. "People get engaged just to make a purchase, to take advantage of the deal". This leaves other retailers in the unenviable position of having to offer deep discounts themselves, or their own "Black Friday in July" events, as we've seen from companies like Macy's (M), Target (TGT), and Best Buy (BBY), among others this summer.

Prime Day starts today at 12pm PT / 3pm ET!

It has become the firing gun for the start of back-to-school shopping, the second busiest shopping time of the year. New Lightning Deals will launch every five minutes. Amazon is driving traffic to Whole Foods by lowering prices and increasing Prime discount benefits.